Council Chairman Tom Allen says document forged

Troy Tessier, left, and Tally Parham, attorneys representing Anderson County, sit next to Tom Allen, Anderson County Council chairman.

Anderson Independent-Mail, S.C.

ANDERSON - Anderson County Council Chairman Tom Allen says a document attributed to him and pertinent to the severance-pay case between the county and its former administrator has been forged.

Allen testified to that in a deposition, which was read into the court record Friday during the fifth day of Anderson County's severance-pay trial against its former administrative leader, Joey Preston. The county is suing Preston for the return of a $1.1 severance package awarded to him in November 2008, alleging that he has committed ethics violations and fraud.

Preston's attorney, Lane Davis, asked late Thursday for a directed verdict in favor of Preston that could have ended the trial Friday morning.

Judge Roger Couch denied Davis' motion, saying in part that he thought it was important to have a complete and thorough record "for later on when, I've got a feeling, this case will be decided by an appellate court."

Couch said: "The main thrust of the case is the severance agreement and whether the vote should be upheld."

With the motion for a verdict in Preston's favor denied, his defense team began presenting its case Friday.

The first move was to have Allen's earlier deposition read into the record. The date of that deposition has not been announced in court, but it was taken some time ago, because Allen references a report that the amount of money the county has spent on lawsuits and investigations as $1.6 million.

Current figures from the county's finance department indicate that the county has spent more than $2.3 million on investigating Preston and other affiliated lawsuits.

In the deposition testimony that was read Friday, Allen is questioned about a document that was sent from his email address on Dec. 24, 2008 to the email account that council member Eddie Moore used to have when he worked for Fluor Daniel.

The document lays out an agenda for the January 2009 meeting after Allen and Moore were sworn into office as council members.

The emailed agenda includes items about freezing some county jobs, appointing a financial and investigative audit committee, and hiring Bob Daniel, who would act as an investigative accountant.

Allen acknowledges in his testimony that the email was sent from his address, but he denies making the agenda.

"Your testimony is that this is a forged document?" Preston's attorney, Lane Davis, asked during the deposition.

Allen said that even though it had his email and name on it, he did not prepare it, and it did not come from him.